The new Hibiscus cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Roderick Ian Woods. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Hibiscus syriacus varieties with double or semi-double flowers on vigorous plants. The cross resulting in this new variety was made during 2006.
The seed parent is the unpatented proprietary Hibiscus syriacus ‘7060’. The pollen parent is the unpatented proprietary variety Hibiscus syriacus ‘5954’. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection in September 2008, with the inventor continuing variety observations and finally selecting the variety in 2011. Selection was made at a research nursery in Norfolk, the United Kingdom.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘RWOODS5’ was first performed in January 2009 in Norfolk, UK. Vegetative soft wood cuttings were grafted onto an unnamed, unpatented Hibiscus syriacus rootstock. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in 6 successive generations.